Wednesday
Feb242010
Latest Iran Video: Rafsanjani's Daughter is Confronted
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 13:56
Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and a prominent women's rights activists, was leaving after a talk at a university when she was surrounded by a group of men. Pedestrian, who calls the group "Basij", has provided a translation and explanation of the conversation:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9GP7iShZ48[/youtube]
A group of men, are forcing asking her to come out of the car, the one in front throws out her belongings, they say: “why were you here giving a talk? what were you saying?”
She responds: “Because I wanted to.”
Basij: “so we want you to talk to us too.”
All the time the men are also arguing amongst themselves which is the most interesting part of the conversation. Their use of the words “debate”, “discussion”, “dialog”, “conversation"....these are all words they’ve openly taken from the reform movement.
Basij: “weren’t you the one who was just making the speech? About the student movement having demands? Walk outside your car, and let’s have a conversation. We’re students too, we want to talk. Be certain, we don’t want to be rude, we just want to talk. Only talk. ”
Faezeh: “you can talk anywhere you want. Go and talk.”
Basij: “no, we want you to repeat some of the things you said.”
Faezeh: “what did I say? Tell me what I said.”
Basij: “you don’t know what you said?”
Faezeh: “I said what I said. If you have any comments about what I said, well, you can state them now.”
A number of the men start shouting together: “when are you going to end this? How long is this going to continue?”
Another man: “how long are you going to continue this?”
Faezeh: “continue what?”
The men respond together, each stating one of the words: “this”, “this green …” “Omavi movement” “American movement” [The Bani Umayyah, Omavi, had been enemies of the Bani Hashim, the prophet's family. So they are indicating that the movement is against the prophet and Shi'a Islam.]
Basij: “are you against this movement or for it?”
Faezeh: “that’s my own business.”
Basij: “you claim that you came here to study today, but the doors were closed so you went amongst the students to give a speech?”
Faezeh: “Go inside and ask anyone you want what I was doing here.”
Basij: “who do we ask?”
Faezeh: “anyone, administration, professors, etc”
Basij: “we want to ask you. You’re standing here, we can ask you. We want to have a debate”
Faezeh: “I’m not going to answer you. I don’t want to answer you. A debate has to be two-sided. I have a right not to have a discussion, not to have a debate.”
They keep pressing her to have a “debate”. “Why did you come here today? To incite the students?”
Faezeh: “I had a class today.”
Basij: “show me the print of the class” [note sure what he means by "print"]
Faezeh: “if you have a class, you keep the print? Nobody keeps it.”
Basij: “do you have the documents with you? Do you have a student ID?”
Someone from the back shouts: “do you have the ownership documents of this building with you?” [hitting at Rafsanjani's rumored fortune] “this is her father’s land after all, this is all her inheritance.”
Another basiji says: “no, don’t smear. don’t be rude. Put her things back in the car.”
She says: “you can’t use force, you can’t …”
A basiji says: “thank God, she has started talking, everybody praise Allah!”
As she starts driving they shout: “pour some water behind her” [pouring a glass of water behind a traveler is a custom in Iran, symbolizing a safe journey and a safe return. They are saying it to mock her.]
As she drives away she says: “be certain, you will not reach your aims using these methods.”
And they all shout together: “and you will?!”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9GP7iShZ48[/youtube]
A group of men, are forcing asking her to come out of the car, the one in front throws out her belongings, they say: “why were you here giving a talk? what were you saying?”
She responds: “Because I wanted to.”
Basij: “so we want you to talk to us too.”
All the time the men are also arguing amongst themselves which is the most interesting part of the conversation. Their use of the words “debate”, “discussion”, “dialog”, “conversation"....these are all words they’ve openly taken from the reform movement.
Basij: “weren’t you the one who was just making the speech? About the student movement having demands? Walk outside your car, and let’s have a conversation. We’re students too, we want to talk. Be certain, we don’t want to be rude, we just want to talk. Only talk. ”
Faezeh: “you can talk anywhere you want. Go and talk.”
Basij: “no, we want you to repeat some of the things you said.”
Faezeh: “what did I say? Tell me what I said.”
Basij: “you don’t know what you said?”
Faezeh: “I said what I said. If you have any comments about what I said, well, you can state them now.”
A number of the men start shouting together: “when are you going to end this? How long is this going to continue?”
Another man: “how long are you going to continue this?”
Faezeh: “continue what?”
The men respond together, each stating one of the words: “this”, “this green …” “Omavi movement” “American movement” [The Bani Umayyah, Omavi, had been enemies of the Bani Hashim, the prophet's family. So they are indicating that the movement is against the prophet and Shi'a Islam.]
Basij: “are you against this movement or for it?”
Faezeh: “that’s my own business.”
Basij: “you claim that you came here to study today, but the doors were closed so you went amongst the students to give a speech?”
Faezeh: “Go inside and ask anyone you want what I was doing here.”
Basij: “who do we ask?”
Faezeh: “anyone, administration, professors, etc”
Basij: “we want to ask you. You’re standing here, we can ask you. We want to have a debate”
Faezeh: “I’m not going to answer you. I don’t want to answer you. A debate has to be two-sided. I have a right not to have a discussion, not to have a debate.”
They keep pressing her to have a “debate”. “Why did you come here today? To incite the students?”
Faezeh: “I had a class today.”
Basij: “show me the print of the class” [note sure what he means by "print"]
Faezeh: “if you have a class, you keep the print? Nobody keeps it.”
Basij: “do you have the documents with you? Do you have a student ID?”
Someone from the back shouts: “do you have the ownership documents of this building with you?” [hitting at Rafsanjani's rumored fortune] “this is her father’s land after all, this is all her inheritance.”
Another basiji says: “no, don’t smear. don’t be rude. Put her things back in the car.”
She says: “you can’t use force, you can’t …”
A basiji says: “thank God, she has started talking, everybody praise Allah!”
As she starts driving they shout: “pour some water behind her” [pouring a glass of water behind a traveler is a custom in Iran, symbolizing a safe journey and a safe return. They are saying it to mock her.]
As she drives away she says: “be certain, you will not reach your aims using these methods.”
And they all shout together: “and you will?!”
Reader Comments (7)
The most iinteresting part is the basiji tying the green ribbon on the arial and if you listen at the end someone is saying take it off. The will stoop at anything but ultimately it is themselves they discredit with their stupidity
Yeah I noticed the man placing the ribbon on the car and whispering afterwards to remove it. I am 58 yrs old from what I can remember in Iran from these "religious people" they wouldn't look at a womans eyes when they talked to her, before the revolution you could identify these "religious people" by the way they dressed and they way they combed their hair with a wet comb with belly over their belt and the smell of rose water and would never give eye contact, now they are holding their own ex presidents daughters car door open, filming it and bullying her with questions. Just imagine what these "religious people" do to the young girls they imprison behind closed doors.
The salavat always finished with Muhammad now these religious people have added so many arabic words and loose the significance and makes them more identifiable as anti iranian.
This is not the first video I have seen of Faezeh that makes me feel very impressed with her composure and fearlessness. I think at the end of this whole sorry affair, she will emerge as a hero of the Iranian people. There have been many demonstrations where even Karroubi and Mousavi have stayed home, but without fail, there is Faezeh. Unlike many, she has something to lose, and yet she puts herself forward again and again. Bravo.
I agree with you Jack; facing those thugs built like tanks , she's very brave; does Raf deserve to be his father ? we will see . Bravo Faezeh ! and thank you for what you do for your people .
I agree with you Jack; facing those thugs built like tanks , she’s very brave; does Raf deserve to be her father ? we will see . Bravo Faezeh ! and thank you for what you do for your people .
this isn't the first time that Rafsnajani used one of his own kids as actors for his political games
to let you know, the Azad university where the show is taped is owned by Rafsanjani himself and also the thugs are Rafsanjani's own paid actors
Do you have any clue how powerful Rafsanjani is?? Khamenei still takes many of his leads from Rafsnjani, he is far more powerful than he pretends to be
back in the 90's and 80's, once every few years, he used to fake assassination attempts in order to pretend as a die-hard and at the same time a man with too many enemies and in danger
after taking measures of how angry the people were and since he couldn't figure any way to do anything about ever growing IRG, he had to fabricate a new populist movement by creating a public supported reformist movement trying to save the regime while balancing the power to his side by using the public's support
however, they didn't realize that public anger and awareness was far beyond what he had expected, so when after the elections people took to the streets, they realized that the majority will not settle with a reformed Islamic Republic and wants a secular democratic government (regime change)
now he is trying very hard by using his sons and daughters popular and politically clean background, in order to increase his influence and save the future of his family in the future non-Islamic Iran
He is not as dirty as some think, but at the same time not as clean as he claims to be. He did what he could to save the dysfunctional regime he once created and in my opinion would'd been a lot worse if some other blood thirsty mullahs had his and Khamenei's position
Islamic Republic was a failure and dictatorship since the day one, because that's the only way it would survive
in some estimates, IRG now controls 1/3 of economy while Rafsanjani himself in other estimates controls much of the rest, you get the bigger picture
plus he still have major influence within the military and within the IRG
he is still the 2nd most powerful man in Iran if we consider Khamenei the 1st